Jan. 6 chairman: Ginni Thomas reiterates false election claims

WASHINGTON — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, stood by the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent in an interview Thursday with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, the panel’s chairman said.

“It’s a work in progress,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, DMiss., told reporters after the more than four-hour interview ended. “At this point, we’re glad she came.”

The committee — comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans — has for months sought an interview with Mrs. Thomas in an effort to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. The conservative activist texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin in the weeks after the election.

Mrs. Thomas answered some of the questions from congressional investigators Thursday as she sought to portray herself as among the many Americans who still believe the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, according to a person familiar with the investigation. But she did not provide evidence or specific reasoning to back up her belief, the person said.

“As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas had significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election,” Mark Paoletta, her attorney, said in a statement. “And, as she told the Committee, her minimal and mainstream activity focused on ensuring that reports of fraud and irregularities were investigated.”

The testimony from Mrs. Thomas was one of the last remaining for the panel as it eyes the completion of its work. The panel has already interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and shown some of that video testimony in its eight hearings over the summer.

The extent of her involvement in the Capitol attack is unclear. In the days after The Associated Press and other news organizations called the presidential election for Joe Biden, Mrs. Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to urge them to choose “a clean slate of Electors” and “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure.”